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Hai Sai! Welcome to my Blog.

Hello, my name is Tom Corrao and I am the blogger behind the Okinawaology Blog. I created this blog to share and discuss all things Okinawan. I’m also the Public Relations Officer and Minkan Taishi to the Chicago Okinawa Kenjinkai. My experience with Okinawa is derived from the time I spent there during the 1980's and 90's (10 years) when serving in the United States Air Force. I've also been married to an Okinawan woman for 30 years now and have been immersed in many things Okinawan through both friends and family. I do not claim to be all knowing about everything Okinawan but I try hard and study the history and culture. I welcome everyone that is interested in Okinawa and hope that I can provide useful information to those uchinanchu that may be curious about their culture and heritage. I also welcome those who are not of Okinawan heritage but have experienced, or are experiencing, the islands culture while stationed there with the United States Military. Comments are welcomed and will be published as long as they are in good taste and on track with the purpose of this blog. My hope with this blog is to bring Uchinanchu people around the world a little closer to their cultural roots by expressing information that has started to fade in light of a more modern world. We should never forget our culture or the people who came before us and through the Blog my intentions are to meld the old with the new and implant knowledge that will help maintain the traditions and culture of an island people.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

I'm Back! With A Folktale of The Gods Miruku and Sarka

My good internet friend Len Yoza from Hawaii got me thinking after I posted the other day on my Facebook account. You see I was explaining about working hard to get promoted and taking a leave of absence from my Kenjinkai duties. He told me congratulations for getting promoted but also said he was going to miss my posts on the Okiawaology blog. Well that part got me thinking because I write reports all the time for my job and I always find time to fit them in so I've decided to continue the blog entries now that I have reached my promotional goal.All I need to do is some time management and I should be able to continue my work here too.

So, Here is an Okinawan folk tale to get things started again.

The Gods Miruku and Sarka

Once there were two Gods who lived in neighboring villages. They each had very different personalities. Miruku was honest and believed in hard work and Sarka on the other hand was lazy and cunning. The villagers in Miruku's village worked very hard and their village was prosperous as a result. Sarka's village was poor because much like Sarka they were also lazy.

One day Sarka was taking to Miruku and said, You know, we live so close to one another yet we don't seem to get along very well. Sarka then suggested that they move farther apart so that they would not have to see each other quite so much. Sarka held up two lotus buds and asked Miruku to pick one and said, the one that blooms first decides who gets to pick their land first.

Miruku knew that Sarka was cunning and that he wanted to drive him away but he just smiled and said, "All right" in a very calm voice. Then the two gods sat and closed their eyes and waited for the lotus buds to blossom. Sarka kept his eyes open ever so slightly and suddenly saw that Miruku's bud was beginning to blossom first so he secretly switched Miruku's bud with his own.

"Oh Look", he said loudly, "My bud is blooming first so I will be the first to choose new land." Miruku knew that Sarka had switched the bulbs but he calmly stated, "Go ahead and pick." So Sarka said, "Listen Miruku, The land I see from here will be mine and you can have all the rest." The land Sarka claimed was mountainous land which blocked the view of the rich flat valleys beyond.

It came to pass that Sarka's people had a very hard time working and cultivating the rocky soil in the mountainous are Sarka had chosen. Miruku's land however was easy to cultivate and all who came there prospered.

One day Miruku went on a trip to a far away island to find new seeds to cultivate. When he returned he noticed his people seemed so sad and worried. He asked them what was wrong and they told him that when he was away Sarka came and blind folded all the villagers and then hid their fire. At that time in history human's still didn't know how to make fire so they feared they would not be able to cook their food, and would suffer in the cold weather, and would not be able to see anything in the dark. It is said that animals could talk to humans back then and the grasshoppers and locusts came forward to speak to Miruku. They told Miruku that they had seen Sarka hide the fire in the anchakura tree.

Miruku then left to find the fires. After some time of searching he was able to find the anchakura tree. He rubbed the tree and it began to smoke and gradually produced a fire. Miruku then put together a fire making device using the tree and took it back to present to the villagers. "Here is a fire making device" he announced loudly. Hold the wooden stick and make it turn on the wooden board, then you will be able to make fire.

Having been given the device the villagers no longer needed to worry about losing their fire. Sarka was furious and Miruku became even more respected than he already was. Sarka sat and thought of other cunning things he could do to Miruku's villagers. He created mice and let them loose on the farm land. The mice soon became a menace to the village because they not only damaged farmland but the started to harm babies by biting their noses, hands, and legs. Miruku's village was in danger and the villagers asked Miruku to do something about it.

Miruku created cats to catch the mice. Not the kind of cats we know today but smaller cats that were as small as the mice so that when a mouse tried to escape into a tiny hole the cat could follow them in and kill them.

Sarka was angry at Miruku's cats but one day he went to Miruku and said he was sorry about the mice. He said, I had no idea they would harm humans. Now I have some advice for you. If your cats were bigger than my mice they could kill the small mice more easily. Miruku didn't know there was another scheme behind Sarka's suggestion. So he thanked him for the advice and made the cats bigger than the mice. The new cats were bigger and stronger but couldn't follow the mice into their holes. This allowed the mice to escape from the cats most of the time when they were chased. The mice stopped harming the villagers though out of fear for the cats.

Sarka thought of another plan to menace the villagers. This time he created wild boars that were bigger and stronger than Miruku's cats. He freed them in the village and the boars ravaged the land causing more damage than the mice ever did. The villagers once again asked Miruku to do something about the problem. So, Miruku created dogs.

Wild Boars! Miruku yelled, what Sarka has created belongs in the mountains and not the villages. Go back to the mountains! Miruku then freed the dogs and the dog's chased the boar back into the mountains. Again Sarka had failed.

They say that this is because the mice and boars that Sarka created resembled him with long faces and sharp, cold looking eyes. But, the cats and dogs Miruku created had good round faces just like him and they soon became friends with the villagers and friends of all humans.

Dogs and Cats truly are our friends. This is Duncan my dog who passed away during my hiatus from the blog. Where ever they come from they sure can bring joy into our human existence. Appreciate them while you have them! The God Miruku appears as the god of a rich harvest in festivals that occur annually in the Ryukyu islands. Anything referring to the Miruku world means it is a prosperous society. The God Miruku on Okinawa is said to be the Miroku-bosatsu and the god Sarka is the Shaka, Buddha himself in the Buddhist religion. Although the story of the gods Miruku and Sarka is not widely known on mainland Japan, it does appear in mythology in South Korea as part of the earth's creation of the island of Saishu, just off Korea's south coast.

Okinawaologist

About The Author

Well I live in Kenosha Wisconsin. I moved
here in 1992 after getting out of the United States Air Force. While I do believe
that a certain amount of military presence is necessary and good to the Okinawan
community I also would support some downsizing of the number of troops stationed
on the island. Many times we only hear the negatives associated with the military
forces stationed there but as many of us know there are pluses and minuses to
the politics of it all. I support the Okinawans as a people and the Japanese
as another people although these days the lines are more and more blurred. I
do not wish to make this a political site but I do wish to incite exchange of
information and ideas. I hope to do this in a neutral manner so that everyone
can come to their own conclusions. I hope to someday return to Okinawa and live
there once again maybe for another ten years. If you have a job for me let me
know and I will consider it. Nifee deebiru!